Italy vs Georgia

Italy vs Georgia : In a clash between the sides ranked 13th and 14th in the world – Italy will be eager to record a victory over their European rivals on home soil. In preparation for the tie at Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, Italy head coach Conor O’Shea has made a string of changes from last weekend’s 54-7 defeat to Ireland in Chicago, with ten players coming into the starting XV.

Sebastian Negri and Jake Polledri start in the back row alongside Steyn, with Dean Budd and Alessandro Zanni in the second row.

Andrea Lovotti and Simone Ferrari will start at prop to bolster the Italian scrum, while Benetton duo Tommaso Allan and Tito Tebaldi are the half-backs and Tommaso Castello comes into the centres alongside Michele Campagnaro.

Two more players from the Ireland defeat, Luca Sperandio and Mattia Bellini, have been selected by O’Shea with the latter switching to left wing as Tommaso Benvenuti starts.
Georgia haven’t seen international action since suffering a 28-0 defeat to Japan in June and head coach Milton Haig has made a host of changes from that encounter.
With a side boasting a mighty 469 caps between them, only Vasil Lobzhanidze, Lasha Khmaladze and Soso Matiashvili will start in the backline from the defeat to Japan.

While in the forward pack Giorgi Tsutskiridze, Otar Giorgadze and Jaba Bregvadze are the sole survivors as Merab Sharikadze gets the nod to captain the Georgians.